BY THE END OF 1913, the campaign against Home Rule for Ireland organised by the Ulster Unionists and their allies in the Conservative and Unionist Party — better known as the Tories — in Britain had reached a crescendo. The Ulster Volunteers had been established as well as a ‘Provisional Government’, which threatened to seize power if Home Rule became law. Free article

IN the final part of his series of articles around unionist centenaries, TOM HARTLEY looks at the origins of the Ulster Volunteer Force – the UVF. Free article

THE collection of witness statements from the revolutionary years 1913-1921 in the Bureau of Military History in Dublin (www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie) was last month made available online for the first time. There are 36,000 pages of testimony from hundreds of witnesses, mostly members of the IRA, Cumann na mBan, Sinn Féin, the IRB and Fianna Éireann. It is an historical treasure trove. The site is fully searchable and is of special value to those researching the local history of the period. Here are excerpts from the testimony of one woman, Catherine Byrne (married name Rooney), from 17 North Richmond Street, next to Croke Park in Dublin’s north inner city. She was one of the most active members of Cumann na mBan. The family home was regularly used by the IRA during the Black and Tan War, including by the Dublin Active Service Unit, better known as ‘The Squad’. Free article

MY FATHER, born in 1904, was a member of a Falls Road republican family. The family saw themselves as belonging to a national political majority. But my father’s status in belonging to this majority changed overnight, on 23 December 1920, as a result of the Government of Ireland Act. Free article

FOLLOWING the review of unionist and Orange volunteers at Balmoral in Belfast on 9 April 1912 (Easter Tuesday) by Edward Carson and Bonar Law, leader of the Conservative Party, the unionist leadership began to think of an oath of loyalty to the unionist cause that would strengthen unionist opposition to home rule. In a conversation between James Craig MP (a senior member of the unionist leadership) and BWD Montgomery (Secretary of the Ulster Club in Belfast), Montgomery suggested using the Scottish 1643 Solemn League and Covenant as a model for their oath. Thomas Sinclair, a leading member of the Ulster Unionist Council, was then given the task of writing the first draft. Prior to its adoption by the Ulster Unionist Council, the final draft of the Covenant was submitted to the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches and the Church of Ireland for their consent and approval. Premium service article

ONE of the first leaders of the Irish people to lose his life in the Civil War in 1922 was Cathal Brugha TD who for many years had been a key figure in the IRA, Sinn Féin and Conradh na Gaeilge. Free article

IF A RANDOM SAMPLE of Belfast people was asked to name the most important event of 1912, it is highly likely that the majority of them would cite the sinking of the RMS Titanic. This is partly a consequence of the present saturation coverage of Titanic commemorations and partly a pre-existing, enduring interest in the story of the doomed vessel, the most famous ship in modern-day history. Free article

ON MAY 12th 1920, dozens of Irish republican prisoners were entering their 20th day of hunger strike in Wormwood Scrubs in England. At the same time there were numerous reports in the British media that ‘special forces’ were about to be sent to Ireland to deal with the intensifying IRA campaign against Britain’s continuing brutal occupation of Ireland – this was despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Irish people had voted in favour of Irish independence in 1918. Free article

BY THE SUMMER of 1912 it seemed most likely that there would be a Home Rule parliament in Ireland and Irish women were determined to ensure they would win the right to vote in the first election to that parliament. Their campaign was stepped up and took on a new militancy 100 years ago. Free article

MANY PEOPLE interested in Irish history will have seen the cartoons of Ernest Kavanagh reproduced in books. Very few, including this reviewer, knew the name of the artist — fewer still the tragic circumstances of his death. Free article

OF THE SEVEN SIGNATORIES of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic at Easter 1916, Éamonn Ceannt is probably the least widely known. Yet he was a pivotal figure in the making of the Rising and a commandant in one of the sectors where some of the fiercest fighting took place. Free article

16 Lives Series: James Connolly, by Lorcan Collins. Joseph Plunkett, by Honor Ó Brolcháin. Michael Mallin, by Brian Hughes. O’Brien Press, €11.99 each Free article

PÁDRAIG Mac PIARAIS (PH Pearse) grew up in a comfortable middleclass family in Dublin but one which influenced the revolutionary direction of his politics. From an aunt in County Meath he heard stories and songs of Irish nationalism, 1798 and the Fenians. His father, an English sculptor, was radical in politics. And the young man matured during Ireland’s cultural revival, quickly becoming a leader in the Gaelic League. Free article